National Basketball Association
Phoenix 93, New Orleans 78
When: 8:00 PM ET, Friday, December 30, 2011
Where: New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana
Officials:
#23 Jason Phillips, #51 Leroy Richardson, # Scott Twardoski
Attendance:
15790
By SportsDirect Inc.
Hakim Warrick scored 18 points and Jared Dudley added 16 as the Phoenix Suns cruised to a 93-78 victory over the host New Orleans Hornets on Friday.
Channing Frye grabbed 16 rebounds and Steve Nash had 12 assists as Phoenix (1-2) avoided its first 0-3 start since the 1996-97 campaign.
Carl Landry had 17 points for New Orleans (2-1), which shot a franchise-worst 28.9 percent while playing without guard Eric Gordon for the second straight game.
Gordon hit the game-winning shot when the Hornets won their season-opening game in Phoenix on Monday but bruised his right knee during the contest.
New Orleans trailed by 17 points with 11 minutes to play before a 10-2 push got the Hornets within 82-73 on Emeka Okafor’s rebound hoop with 6:03 to play.
But Dudley scored five points and Marcin Gortat had four as Phoenix put the game away with an 11-3 run.
Gortat had 12 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots.
Okafor had 16 rebounds for New Orleans. Jarrett Jack scored 12 points but was just 6-of-20 shooting.
The Suns led 52-45 at halftime and used a 10-0 run in the third quarter to build a 68-51 lead on Gortat’s layup with 4:54 left in the period.
Top Game Performances
Phoenix |
|
New Orleans |
Hakim Warrick 18 |
Scoring |
Carl Landry 17 |
Steve Nash 12 |
Assists |
Greivis Vasquez 5 |
Channing Frye 16 |
Rebounds |
Emeka Okafor 16 |
Hakim Warrick 6 |
Free Throws Made |
Emeka Okafor 6 |
Shannon Brown 2 |
Steals |
Trevor Ariza 2 |
Marcin Gortat 4 |
Blocks |
Chris Kaman 3 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Phoenix
|
93 |
42.3 |
7-23 |
20-22 |
22 |
47 |
10 |
3 |
12 |
New Orleans
|
78 |
28.9 |
3-14 |
23-28 |
14 |
57 |
5 |
4 |
13 |
Upcoming Games
-
New Orleans will play their next game on the road against Sacramento. The Hornets have a W/L % of .667 after a win and .000 after a loss.
-
Phoenix will play their next game on the road against Oklahoma City. The Suns have a W/L % of .000 after a win and .333 after a loss.